Bursting The Internet Of Things Bubble

So Internet of Things (IoT) makes its appearance at the top of the Gartner Hype Cycle. Remember when that happened with big data? Well, as can be expected, IT vendors, magazine editors, academics and professional “experts” are all over the IoT bandwagon.

Just like big data, you might not be surprised to learn that IoT has much of the same messaging, hype and buzzwords as big data (so no need to change too many slides or think too deeply about the messaging) and it is also “truly game-changing / a paradigm shift” (delete as appropriate). What’s not to like! Certainly if you are on the purchasing side of the desk you can look forward to a steady stream of salespeople calling on you with their “Internet of Things” solutions / conference / technology / revolutionary capability (take your pick!).

Early adopters of IoT think they know what to do with it. But when it comes to actually knowing how they will use it, how they can profit from it, that’s a little harder to do. And that’s because they have not answered the critical question - what business challenge am I trying solve?

Theory of Evolution

So why are so many companies struggling to answer this question? Ever since computers and data management were first invented there has been a constant evolution of capability, capacity and connectivity.

This evolution is a key driver of IoT. As sensors become cheaper and more powerful they can be added to almost any device or machine. As connectivity becomes faster (and again cheaper) these devices can be connected to the internet, and in turn be connected to each other.

From Tape to Data Lake

What does this all mean? Take away the arguments about “hardware” and “interoperability” and what do you get from all these sensors and connected devices? Data. And yes, it is often big data. See above for how many companies are still struggling with making cents from their big data investments (pun intended) and you begin to question why companies are stuck in this infinity loop of paralysis, doing what they know/are comfortable with, and ultimately, disillusionment.

In the 80’s and 90’s, leading companies understood the value of data and, in particular, of bringing together all the disparate data sources from across the company. They saw that, for example, by integrating production data, supplier data, service data and customer data, they could drive savings in warranty and service costs while also improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. By taking the data out of application and departmental strongholds, they broke down the silos between systems and between department functions.

Now, it looks to me that while technology continues to evolve at a fantastic rate, the approach to data management and analytics in most corporations is regressing!

I personally see a lot of companies building data lakes to store all their IoT data without any real understanding on how this is going to translate into delivering value back to the business. In many cases, they are just replacing tape with cheap storage! The net of which is that these are just new improved data silos - a clear oxymoron.

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of All the Parts

The truth is – IoT is a great enabler. But if we want it to revolutionise our business, then we can’t look at it in isolation. We need to combine it with data from across the organisation – customer records, usage rates, financial and supply chain logistics information.

It is when we have the ability to analyse all the data, all of the time, through all of the processes, that we will be able to tackle complex business challenges – with confidence.